CALIFORNIA, United States?The President and the Congress of the United States should do what is right for the Philippines, its ally, at a time of extreme calamity.

This is a call for the President of the United States to direct the Secretary of State to immediately send the Undersecretary of State for East Asia and the acting director of the USAID to the Philippines to make an assessment of the damages of the typhoon in the Philippines.

They should be instructed to report to the President, Secretary of State, and the Foreign Affairs Committees in Congress how the United States can render assistance in terms of aid for recovery and rebuilding efforts.

The Philippines has been our ally in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf War. President Roosevelt drafted Filipinos into the Philippine Army and thousands died in the inhumane Bataan Death March and throughout the duration of World War II. The civilian population was brutalized by the occupation forces of Japan. In Manila alone, over 100,000 Filipinos died as the Japanese forces were being defeated by allied forces.

After the recent natural disaster, Asia?s oldest democracy is suffering the loss of over $1.5 billion of infrastructure and $3.2 million in agriculture crops. The statistics verify that over 5,000 homes, schools, and buildings have been destroyed and approximately 700,000 people have been evacuated or displaced. The total affected population is estimated to be 2,254,915. The government has already expended over a half a billion in American dollars for recovery and relief operations but this is still not enough. More assistance is needed before recovery can be accomplished.

Billions of our tax dollars have been expended since 9/11 to assist countries that are antagonistic to the United States in order to build their infrastructures of roads, schools, and water and sewer systems. In return for our generosity, the people of these countries kill our soldiers and terrorize our citizens.

Pakistan has received billions more to prop up a government that repays us with ingratitude and complaints when we kill the terrorist that they ignore. We certainly understand the rationale of these actions and there is no doubt that these actions are necessary to protect the national security interests of our country, but we should not treat our ally, the Philippines, worse than we treat our enemies.

All of our allies deserve more of our support not less since they promote and achieve peace and stability to their part of the world. An ally like the Philippines has expended blood and treasure and deserves the very best of our resources in times of great calamity.

It is noted that the US embassy in the Philippines has expended to date $100,000 for the relief and recovery efforts of the typhoon. Wells Fargo?s employees have already contributed $100,000 to the victims of the typhoon. The USAID has expended $404,496 and will be making available $1,000,000 to the Philippine government and non-profit organizations in the coming days for recovery and relief purposes which is commendable.

The United States Department of Defense has also provided equipment, transport, logistics support, and 3,000 troops to participate in relief projects, as well as $4,000,000 of medical supplies, which is at this point the largest dollar amount of assistance from the United States government.

The Philippine government and its people are grateful for the assistance provided by our government but it is less than the amount expended by our government to foreign countries that have killed or maimed our sons, daughters, husbands, and fathers who are fighting against terrorism in their countries.

Today an ally like the Philippines relies on the continued aid and generosity of the United States and we call upon our government to increase the aid to the Philippines.